When is enough really 'enough'?

If you are an entrepreneur then this is a question I’m certain you’ve pondered more than once. It isn’t so much something you ask as it’s something you can feel every workday. It’s a sense or a feeling you get in your gut as you wonder, ‘Am I doing the absolute most I possibly can?’

I, too, have struggled with this from time to time because there’s no one there but me to quantify and qualify my work. There’s no one to check in with and there’s no one to give me reviews except for my client’s and their results.

When you ask yourself this question what you’re really asking is –

Am I good enough, smart enough, and resilient enough to just be?

Even mastermind groups, although very supportive, become a place for making sure you’re pushing one another and yourself as much as possible.

Lately I’ve heard many entrepreneurs say things like, “There’s too much to do to slow down” and, “I’ll rest when I’m dead.” It begs the question – do you remember why you work so hard to begin with?

I’m sure you’d agree that you work for your individuation and your right to creative freedom. Both are benefits and blessings. Which makes slowing down or feeling like you can settle in and that you’ve done enough feel like pipe dreams.

Before I share Michael's Four Keys for accepting that you’re doing enough and are enough I first offer you 3 myths that you might believe. If any of these feel like you then no wonder feeling like enough is hard to accept!

But don’t fret – as soon as you see how these are actually counter-productive to your success I have a strong feeling you’ll let them go and embrace this first step in mindful entrepreneurialism – letting enough really be ‘enough’.

3 BIG Myths keeping you Hustling for ‘Enough’

Myth No. 1: "If I slow down then I will become irrelevant"

Do you feel like if you slow down or pull back you’ll fall behind? What if trying to be the leader in your field was actually costing you?

Your success isn’t marked by out ranking your competition. Showing your competition how much you push, rally, or hustle also doesn’t mark your success. The only people who are invested in your success are the people who’s lives you’re here to impact.

What would they say about how hard you push? Do they need you constantly stay ahead of the curve or do they need you to simply show up with passion and love for what you do and who you do it for?

Do you feel like if you do feel like enough you’ll end up settling? I appreciate that for many the idea of settling as an entrepreneur is like a slow, painful death. The thing you want to experience least is apathy.

Here’s the truth – feeling like enough actually gives you permission to do your work from a place of calm assertiveness and this lends itself naturally to creative evolution.

You don’t have to hustle for inspiration. When you let go it’s there. Stop clinging to growth and you’ll find you naturally keep moving forward AND at a pace you can enjoy.

Myth No. 3: "If it’s really enough I won’t feel like I’m successful"

Do you feel like in order to appear successful you have to push yourself to the brink? It’s important to mention here that somewhere along the way we as a society started associating hustling for our importance and self-worth with success and accomplishment. Somehow pushing to exhaustion AND success has become synonymous.

Success isn’t something you can do. It’s something you experience through your beliefs and your state of mind first and these set you up to take appropriate action.

If you don’t ever feel like you do enough to be successful then doing more won’t help you get there any faster. If you feel like showing up with intention, grace, and passion mean you’re successful then everyday that you bring fourth intention, grace, and passion you’re successful.

This all being said, I recruited some help with today’s big question. Michael Knouse of The Startup Sessions interviews entrepreneurs for his successful podcast and works as a entrepreneur's coach. I felt he would have some awesome insight and per usual he didn’t let me down! Four Keys by Michael Knouse.

Four Keys to Answering, “When is enough ‘enough’?

Key No. 1: Understand the energy behind the question

Sometimes there is an underlying feeling of “I’m not good enough therefore I need to work harder to prove myself worthy.” I like to always dig into the reason behind the question. This is so important. If you aren’t certain where the energy to ask this is coming from turn it into a journal question and find out.

Key No. 2: Check in and make sure there is a solid foundation of self-care

Establish physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional self-care. Many people try to stay busy and use this as an excuse to ignore the importance of having empowering rituals in place.

Instead of working harder, how can I create my life in a way that will lead to having more energy and doing my best work? I often use an example of the prior version of myself being stressed out and burnt out in my corporate life. I was always in work mode and never made time for me. Once I started creating time for physical exercise, a little meditation, eating better, then everything else started to shift.

I generally refer to this as living from a place of wholeness and it always generates more clarity, strength and resilience for doing our greatest work.

Key No. 3: Do an honest review of where you’re spending your time

9 of 10 people think they need to work harder when in reality they need to focus on what’s important to have the biggest impact.

For my clients this often involves conducting a week-long inventory of tracking what they do in 30 minute increments. This is always a HUGE eye opener. Focusing on less and simpler (but effective) tasks is usually a powerful thing for most people.

Key No. 4: Recognize leverage and ways to implement it into your life AND business

This is more tactical in nature but one personal example is finding leverage with my web site. My primary work is with 1-on-1 clients and I typically need to engage someone in a discovery session to move them towards becoming a client.

I reached out to a handful of people to discuss ways to make this process easier (leverage my time and still provide high touch/high value). As a result of these conversations my new home page is now simply focused on engaging people to fill out a short form and setup an initial discovery session. My site didn’t do this before and I was missing the opportunity to make my business life much easier since I get decent traffic to my site.

Thank you for joining in on this conversation Michael! Be sure and listen to his podcast. The dialogue's are well worth diving into.

Join me next week as we continue Conscious Living for Mindful Entrepreneur's Month by diving into the 'accomplishment hamster wheel'. Do you ever feel like the more you accomplish the more there is TO accomplish? Find out why this happens and how to be mindful of achievement and fulfillment at the same time.

In light and love,

Andrea

P.S.

If you enjoyed this article be sure and RSVP for my FREE call on May 21st at 12PM PDT. Join me and a few special guests as we continue our discussion of Conscious Living for Mindful Entrepreneurs.